Spirit of Independence Service | America: A Divine Idea

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. You know we have an old saying about the offering plate. If you have a little something put it in, if you need a little something taken out. I know that doesn't sound fully integrity but I think Mile Hi Church is like that and so know that we are here for you to take a little something out in terms of our podcasts or services or classes or to put a little something in. And so if you're experiencing a bunting in your life we so appreciate you choosing to share with us a dollar $5.10 dollars.

[00:00:30] You know we have a lot of things to do with Mile Hi Church.org if you're even able to make it a consistent, rather donation we appreciate it even more. So I hope you get a lot out of today's podcast.

[00:00:40] Our denomination here at Mile Hi Church is called Religious Science and an essential part of our faith is that we honor all past to God.

[00:00:51] We seek to include the wisdom of all the great spiritual traditions. All that being said there are some things that I think make us extra special.

[00:01:02] And one of them it's one of the reasons I am a religious scientist is, I believe more than any of the faiths are faith connects with the central prayer that is the basis for our country. The prayer of liberty, justice and the pursuit of happiness for all people.

[00:01:30] On the very first page of Ernest Holmes the science of mind he says the divine plan is one of freedom.

[00:01:40] The foundation of the foundation is not God or dain. Freedom is the birthright of every living soul. What a beautiful prayer for each of us to hold in our consciousness that this belief in liberty and justice and the pursuit of happiness for all is not just a political belief for us it's an article of faith.

[00:02:07] Imagine that everyone on this planet living in freedom. Imagine that every person on this planet receiving justice and equal opportunity. Imagine everyone free to pursue their joy. Their happiness as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's. What a beautiful prayer to hold in our hearts.

[00:02:38] And we know here through our practice of affirmative prayer that when we ask God for freedom it's not usually as simple as here you go Josh. But God gives us everything we need to realize that prayer.

[00:02:56] And I believe that God gave America this divine idea everything that it needs to realize this prayer in our own lives. It can take a lifetime in our own country it's taken 250 years and will take even more for this prayer never ceases.

[00:03:16] And we struggle for it and people die for it. And people are inspired by it and our country has produced some of the most incredible individuals who ever lived as demonstrations of this prayer to help us to realize it in our everyday lives for ourselves and then for our country and for the world.

[00:03:39] And I think that by fourth marks the birthday of America but I want to argue today that our country has gone through many bursts. Many rebirths and it will continue to do the same.

[00:03:54] The first happened early in our nation, September 19th, 1796. The day that George Washington relinquished power. Now the king of England when we won our freedom and all of the other world leaders thought we were incredibly naive.

[00:04:12] The ex British citizens to think that America could be a democracy, that it could be people led surely before they know it they'll have a monarch.

[00:04:27] Near the end of the Revolutionary War this almost happened because the Congress wasn't paying our troops. You'll be shocked to know that Congress had a low approval rating at the time. And there were letters circulating all around prepared to fight and install George Washington as king.

[00:04:47] And when he heard this he gathered all of his leaders around and he chastised them and criticized them for doing just that. Nonetheless I will get you the money that you are owed. When it was time to elect George Washington president, a title was proposed.

[00:05:06] His high-midiness, the president, just president will do Washington replied. He served two terms in the country with still in tumult. It was struggling in so many different areas that all the other world leaders thought that for sure Washington would not give a power.

[00:05:28] And yet he did and he didn't even speak. He shared and had published a farewell address in every newspaper in the country sharing things like, It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself.

[00:05:45] And the bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country and his immediate posterity, but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.

[00:06:03] And so we have the birth in our country of the peaceful transfer of power and affirmation that the people are more powerful than the president.

[00:06:15] And the formation of this key part of the American character that I feel we need to be getting back to that I am no better than anyone else, but guess what? Nobody's better than me either. Maybe Roger Teal. That basic aspect that honors our equality and individualism.

[00:06:41] Another birthday, January 1st, 1863, the day that the emancipation proclamation was introduced. President Abraham Lincoln seen as our symbol of American leadership because of his character. His humility, his firmness. And most essentially his kindness, his inclusivity.

[00:07:12] President Lincoln wrote so many letters, but so few got delivered because what he would do when he was angry is he'd write vicious mean criticizing letters of whoever he was criticizing then you know what he do.

[00:07:23] He throw them in the fire. He had a secretary of war at one standin part of the famous team of rivals and standin one day is so angry at a general and Lincoln suggests you know what? You should write him a letter.

[00:07:39] Standin does it takes him two days just letting this guy have it. It's good spiritual practice. Just having at it and he reads it aloud to Lincoln and he gets it all out and Lincoln says, what are you going to do with that letter?

[00:07:51] So what the hell are you talking about? I'm going to mail it to the guy and Lincoln invites him to throw it in the trash can and begrudgingly he does. The summer before the emancipation proclamation. Lincoln and his family famously lived at a place called the Soldier's Home.

[00:08:11] Early in the morning he would ride a horse to the White House and in the evening he'd ride a horse back he needed to connect in the midst of this time when America was most apt to be torn a sender to his spiritual roots to a deeper place in consciousness.

[00:08:30] And it's there that he began to articulate and envision with help for people like Frederick Douglass, the emancipation proclamation. He couldn't declare slavery over because of the Constitution and yet because of the South's behavior he was able to declare it as an act of war.

[00:08:47] To release and declare that slavery would be illegal in the United States. Some people thought it came to late, some people thought it came to soon that you'd never get the other side back to the table yet it was a result of pure, prayerfulness and vision.

[00:09:03] And an ancient Taoist teaching. There's a fellow named Shwingsah and he tells the story about woodworker named King who constructs and has been commissioned to create a bell stand for the royal court.

[00:09:25] And he unveils this bell stand and everyone thinks it's the most beautiful piece of art. It's precision, it's magnificent, it's beauty that they've ever seen and they ask him how he did it.

[00:09:37] And he began by saying, well first I meditated and tell all distractions, all noise went away. And then I fasted until I could release myself from all of my bad habits.

[00:09:53] And then I prayed so I was so clear that there was no part of me seeking praise even from the royal court.

[00:10:00] And I prayed so long so that all I could see was the perfection and the beauty of the bell stand. Then I went to the forest to see the trees in their own natural state when the right tree appeared before my eyes, the bell stand also appeared in it clearly beyond doubt.

[00:10:21] All I had to do was to put forth my hand and begin, what does it mean in our own lives to cut out the noise, to stop being so hard on ourselves, to fast until we're released from those habits that are not relieving but creating anxiety for us.

[00:10:45] To release all attachment to attention so that we can only see that divine idea for our lives, that we can begin to carve it out of any experience.

[00:10:56] And what does it mean to hold this type of truth for our country, to know and realize and get so intimate with that prayer, for freedom, for liberty, for justice, for the pursuit of happiness, that we see it so clearly in children praying.

[00:11:15] In the beauty of an old architected state house, even in the midst of the noise. What does it mean to turn off the noise, to fast from those bad habits and to get from that prayerful place that allows us to have our vision for our country be something so clear we could carve it out of anything.

[00:11:38] Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the great novelist, shared human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.

[00:11:57] He did an intended for our country but I would apply it to that, that we've had opportunity after opportunity to give birth to ourselves.

[00:12:07] August 18, 1920, the day that the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified. After years of protest and even more than that in front of the White House, which will will soon finally give in and realize it might be nice to have some more voters.

[00:12:27] And yet, two thirds of the states have to confirm the amendment for it to become law and it came down to the state of Tennessee and a letter written by a woman named FEDB BURN that a young legislator, her son Harry BURN had in his pocket.

[00:12:50] And it was contentious. They called it the war of the roses in the legislature. If you were a red rose, that means you were against women's suffrage. If you were a yellow rose, that meant you were for it and Harry had a red rose on that day.

[00:13:03] And people didn't think it was going to pass and some people changed their vote and it was tied and here, Harry, the youngest member of the legislature, the vote was going to come down to him.

[00:13:13] Suffrage or no. And he grasped the letter that he had, which said things like, hurrah and vote for suffrage and don't keep them in doubt. And Harry made the decision to vote for suffrage that day and we have a very different country because of it.

[00:13:29] Would momentum have found another way, most certainly, would FEDB be the better person serving the legislature at the time and are son, most definitely.

[00:13:40] Yet that's how the birth and the rebirth of our country happened so often. So many people die, so many people dedicate their lives and the opportunity comes to step into it if we can hold that higher vision.

[00:13:59] One more date, August 6th, 1965, the day the Voting Rights Act passed. Where it was made illegal in our country to discriminate against people who wanted to vote. John F. Kennedy had been killed horrendously.

[00:14:17] Lyndon Johnson, who was not elected became the president. He was a master legislator and he made the commitment to choose this as his crowning achievement.

[00:14:27] And Harry was this white guy from Texas, even with a draw addressing Congress and saying, I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.

[00:14:37] At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape the turning point and man's unending search for freedom. There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is only an American problem.

[00:14:52] And we are met here tonight as Americans, not as Democrats and Republicans. We are met here as Americans to solve that problem. There's no issue of states' rights or national rights. There is only the issue of human rights.

[00:15:04] But even as we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far-large movement which reaches into every section in state of America. It is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

[00:15:20] And Johnson famously took those words from the civil rights movement, this white guy from Texas. And we said, shall overcome. What a wonderful truth to know for that prayer of our nation that we shall overcome.

[00:15:39] What's next? What's our next rebirth? What's our next reinvention to better embody the prayer, the divine idea for America? I'm interested in AI artificial intelligence but you know what I mentioned even more, FI, female intelligence.

[00:15:59] When we get to that point in our state, legislators and in our governor offices and in our Congress and in our executive branch where we have as many if not more women serving. How will that change our country? Peace.

[00:16:18] Clarity from the crowd. I'm interested in the expansion of knowledge for our children having broadband internet available for all of them so that they can better learn and have equal opportunity to education.

[00:16:32] I'm so excited to see what that can do for our nation. I'm so excited for us to get our house in order so that we can better embody a prayer that holds patriotism as holding our country accountable to achieving the prayer of liberty and justice and the pursuit of happiness for all.

[00:16:55] So we can be an example for one another before the world where there are so many people who need that prayer.

[00:17:04] And I look forward to spiritual communities like ours that says that you can achieve the American dream no matter what your religion is, no matter who you choose to marry, no matter your political affiliation that it's for all.

[00:17:17] The blessing of the divine, it's highest qualities or for all people no matter what. It's an election year which means it's my favorite time to give this talk. Anyone here experiencing a little anxiety?

[00:17:39] A little anxiety about the election? Boy that debate sure helped because people get pessimistic. They get angry. They get despondent. People are already unhappy because they're not pleased with the candidates who are running. So they already feel a sense of loss.

[00:18:00] Then there are those of us who are preparing what am I going to do if the other guy wins? What am I going to do? Honey, I hear they have some great healthcare in Europe. Those Canadians are so friendly.

[00:18:11] Some real estate prices are not so high up in Mexico. Things are really, I have it too. But you can possess your anxiety and not let it possess you.

[00:18:25] And for me when I think of all those people who've died for that prayer of America, all those people who dedicated their life to it. Staying true to that prayer in that vision no matter what is so incredibly important to me.

[00:18:43] You can choose to just be despondent. Kind of like the Jedi's after the Empire take over. You can just kind of wander and be wise and recluse but just totally detach yourself from anything that's going on in the country.

[00:18:54] Or you can do what our teaching teaches us to do when we're at our most anxious, which is to remember the truth.

[00:19:02] To know the truth of who you are. To remember the truth of the divine idea for your country and seek to be a conduit and a champion for it.

[00:19:12] Abraham Lincoln, the height of the Civil War, has said to have shared the following story that he was once boarding with a Presbyterian minister on a train.

[00:19:22] And one night the minister woke him up, a rise Abraham the day of judgment has come and he's pointing out the window and Lincoln looks out the window and there's a meteor shower.

[00:19:32] So there's literally stars falling from the sky and bolts of fire going on and Lincoln shared with the people who he was sharing with.

[00:19:40] I saw those falling stars and I saw all of those fireworks and yet passed them I could still see those grand old constellations holding the universe in place. My friends the universe did not end that day and the union will not end now.

[00:20:03] How can we no matter how concerned or anxious we may be hold that kind of truth for one another in our country? To see those grand old constellations and get past the fireworks that need our attention but we can always see more and beyond.

[00:20:25] How can we do that? One a little less news. Two of us we watch news for entertainment instead of for information so we can't help but see elections as slobber doctors. The battle of the century and we can't help but sometimes demonize the polarities on the other side.

[00:20:50] Get your news get all the information you need to make the highest and best decisions as you vote. But nothing more than that get out of those. Second what the Buddha called the middle way.

[00:21:09] Get off of the fringes and get back to center. And by that I don't mean be a centrist, be a proud conservative, be a crap proud liberal but recognize that the fringes defined by needing to demonize the fringe on the other side.

[00:21:25] The fringes tear apart. They never bring together. In the middle way we seek not judgment but understanding. We practice not blame but curiosity. We seek to solve problems not just to point them out.

[00:21:46] And lastly have that grand faith in your country. Not an IE faith but a bold faith that can be whole those constellations no matter what. What are those constellations for me? Those stars and the sky have already mentioned them. It's all of those incredible service people.

[00:22:09] Those incredible individuals and activists, those incredible leaders who either died or dedicated their life to the well-being of our country and answering our nation's prayer. I look up and I see the constellation of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

[00:22:26] I see the star system of Paul Robison and Martin Luther King Jr. I see the shining star of Eleanor Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony.

[00:22:36] I see the star of Lyndon Johnson of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, of John McCain. So many stars that you may not agree with their politics but you can respect the dedication of their life's work and their service.

[00:22:53] Follow those stars. Follow those teachers that shine brightest for you and do not forsake the lessons that they teach. That America is a divine idea but it can only come about through our individual lives. In the example we set encouraging others to embody that great liberty,

[00:23:16] that great justice wherever we see injustice and that pursuit and that right each of us have to fulfill that joy and our heart that seeks our God-given freedom in that deep knowing of the sacred that resigns in all of us.

[00:23:33] The motto of the great state of South Carolina says, while I breathe, I hope. While I breathe, I hope. Let's take a deep breath. While I breathe, I hope.

[00:23:52] There's no greater spiritual gift that any of us has been given than the gift to hope, to imagine, to find like King did in that bell stand, that vision for greater harmony within ourselves and our work is to dedicate ourselves to making it a reality.

[00:24:11] As we move into prayer this morning about any of our prayer practitioners like to stand and join me, these wonderful folks are available for prayer after service.

[00:24:21] And I share these words from a famous prayer by our founder Ernest Holmes, called My Prayer for My Country, where he shares, I know that divine intelligence governs the destiny of the United States of America, directing the thought and the activity of all who guide it's affairs.

[00:24:38] I know that success, prosperity, and happiness are the gifts of freedom and the divine heritage of everyone in this country.

[00:24:45] I know that divine guidance and lightens the collective mind of the people of this country. I know that no one can believe or be led to believe that personal freedom must be surrendered in order to ensure economic security for all.

[00:24:57] I know that this spiritual democracy shall endure, guaranteeing to everyone in this country, personal liberty, happiness, and self-expression. So moving into a moment of prayerfulness with the clarity of the bell stand.

[00:25:14] May we open ourselves up to greater vision for our own lives and the grandest vision we can have for our country. We do not turn away from the suffering in our country or the suffering in the world.

[00:25:27] We do not turn away from the problems that we see manifesting in our desire to solve and move beyond them, and yet we hold true.

[00:25:36] To all of those who have demonstrated the possibility of the prayer of America, who died perhaps never experiencing an inful, but also knowing deep in their hearts. The future generations, including the one we are today, to see it through for ourselves and for our future loved ones tomorrow.

[00:25:59] We also embrace recall, unearth, nurturing, give thanks for the divine idea for our individual lives. How can I best express my freedom? How can I best embody justice as the great Victor Franco will remarked for the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast.

[00:26:19] How can I best embody freedom and the responsibility that comes with it today? And how can I best pursue living my best life, and awareness of all the gifts of God so that I may use them today?

[00:26:41] We let it be, we let it become, and so it is. Thanks for listening to the Mile High Church podcast. This podcast is made possible by the generous contributions from listeners like you to make a donation. Please visit MilehighChurch.org.